Visual impairment affects millions of people worldwide and can be debilitating and isolating. Visually impaired (e.g., blind) people face many problems. For instance, vision impairment may make some persons feel unsafe when in unfamiliar surroundings, can make completing unfamiliar tasks difficult, etc. The visually impaired population can familiarize themselves with surroundings such as their homes, places of employment, and/or schools. However, these environments change over time and pose new, unexpected threats to the visually impaired. Additionally, new environments and unfamiliar routes to and from any environment are filled with obstacles that can harm the visually impaired person or make it very difficult for the visually impaired person to navigate successfully through the environments.
Assistive techniques and devices have been developed for the visually impaired. One technique is called echolocation in which a visually impaired person learns to interpret echoes of the sounds that bounce off of objects within the near vicinity of the visually impaired person. This process is similar to how a bat detects objects in the dark. Echolocation can be a very useful technique, but it is difficult to learn and can be inadequate in providing information sufficient to help a visually impaired person successfully navigate through an environment. Most often, the visually impaired find echolocation to be more burdensome than beneficial to help them navigate through an environment.
For example, echolocation has been performed by visually impaired people by tapping an assistive device, such as a cane, or his or her foot or hand on an object. The “echoes” received back or the sounds that emanate from the objects after being struck indicate to the visually impaired person some information about the objects, such as its size, shape, and/or contour. Echolocation may be used when a visually impaired person comes across one or more steps. By tapping a cane or his or her foot, the visually impaired person can interpret the sounds emanating from the step to determine the shape and depth of the step so that the visually impaired person can safely navigate the steps. However, this process is very difficult, inefficient, and time-consuming.
Accordingly, despite the benefits of known assisted guidance navigation for the visually-impaired, there remains a need for efficient, useful, user-friendly devices that do not compromise accuracy or utility.